they would five years ago, but probably not today.....
Pop was the greatest Spurs coach of all time and despite the last 8 years of , he's a top 5 all time coach in the NBA and top 15 all time in sports. Despite the fact he got all stupid and political 7-8 years ago as his team turned to , the 2nd greatest basketball player of all time retired from the team and the in bent franchise player decided to quit and abandon the team.
That said, Popovich should have retired in around roughly 2018. Once DPG and Nephew were all gone. No need to jump the shark, actually worse than Belicheat did after Brady left. At least Hoodie left after 3 bad years and 1 middling year.
I'd take a guy like Budenholzer over an unproven commodity like Becky Hammon, I mean Budenholzer back in the day won us a ton of games after Pop got ejected for technical fouls even when we were losing in ball games.
Sorry that was a typo. I said the Spurs *wouldn't hire anyone based on DEI reasons*. I went back and edited the post as it was a complete typo. My typing sucks sometimes and I make mistakes trying to type faster than I should be.
No way do I want anyone hired on that reason. I'm also not advocating for Becky at all, was just saying I'd be OK with it if she truly was the best choice in their minds for pure basketball reasons only.
If they were gonna do that, they should have done that in, like, 2020 or 2021 when DEI/woke/"firsts" were in. In 2025, it's out.
For purely basketball reasons, she's not even close to a top half choice. It'd get media attention like tebowmania, linsanity and kaepernick did for awhile, but it wouldn't help the team any more than Ime Udoka or someone mediocre like that would.
For the people in this thread advocating for Manu, he was never a coachy type. Neither really was Timmy even if he tried it for a year or two. Parker of the three was the best but even then he wasn't a huge coach worthy type. I would have liked to see Bruce Bowen coach somewhere at some point but the way he'd coach defense would have half the team fouling out in today's pussified NBA these days.
Let me guess, next season Pop coaches the team for about 20 games, suffers another stroke and is replaced by Mitch Johnson for the rest of the season. So it’s rinse and repeat a.k.a. pounding the rock
I have a hunch Paul is on the bench after he retires.
Anyone who complains about a DEI hire is just telling on themselves. You guys don't think a person is capable of doing their job, and you think the only way they can get that job is because they are black, brown, or a woman when in reality the people in those positions have to work HARDER to get the same jobs that white men routinely walk into. If you don't want a woman in the job because she's a woman, then don't be a coward and hide behind "DEI hire" bull but just come out and say what you mean.
If you want to total the unqualified hires in this nation and then break them down along gender and race lines, white men are going to have benefited so damn often into jobs they had no business getting because they are unqualified for. It's not even close.
Whether you want to hear it or not, anytime you hire a “groundbreaking” individual for a highly compe ive & exposed job like a head coach, you have to consider how hard it would be to fire the person being considered. Hire a white man & get criticized, but fire same white man & nobody cares. Hire someone that checks some intersectional box or boxes and the media will heap praise. However, if you’re forced to fire that person, that causes huge backlash, even if it’s grossly apparent it was a bad fit or the performance wasn’t there.
Maybe in other sports, but black coaches get fired in the NBA on the regular.
Preach!
That’s not even including all the FailSons out there.
The next head coach should be CP3. The guy is too compe ive to be retiring from basketball. Pop knows what he is doing bringing him this year. He tried desperately with Tim and Manu to no avail.
The notion that Pop & the Spurs would have ever hired Becky either now or 5 years ago due to politics or optics is laughable
Never forget that when Pop had the choice to name Becky his top assistant when she has ac ulated years of first row experience that no else on the staff could match .... He refused.
When he could have designated her as the Coach to be in case of ejections or otherwise like every other team throughout history .... He refused and went with some rubbish excuse of whoever prepped, coached to have a revolving chair of nonsense.
And when asked why he didn't name Becky as the designated replacement and make history with her as a woman coach, he said it wasn't his job to make history or something along those lines.
Pop really ain't about that life despite the talk. He could poke his head out a little to get some praise and credit, but when it got serious he knee-capped her, he wasn't about to let a woman really coach on his watch.
I believe CP3 has the IQ and head to be an NBA coach, but I question if he has the "people skills" to succeed. I am referring to the stories of him wearing on his teammates over time, you don't necessarily need to be buddies with everyone, but you also need to find a balance where you don't come on so strong that you end up losing them.
I love CP3 but I think he could use some seasoning before becoming a head coach. At minimum a couple of years off, then assistant coaching. Rarely do HOF players make successful coaches.
My hope is that they open up the job at season's end and don't hold the door open for Pop.
I do think something is brewing with Tony Parker. He's been at several road games. There's got to be some reason for that. Might be FO, but, it could be coaching.
Please share one example of this happening and causing huge backlash.
Not sure CP3 would want to coach the Spurs. His family lives in LA and not sure they want to relocate to here.
I have a feeling its going to be Mike Brown after all the smoke clears. Fox thinks highly of him to the point that he basically left the kings because they fired him.
Fox quote
"I was like, 'Yo, I've been here for going on my eighth year. If Mike gets fired, I'll be going on my fifth coach,'" Fox told ESPN. "And I told them, 'I'm not going to play for another coach. I'm going to play for another team.'"
Has close ties to the Spurs, has a winning record and is available.
Fire a white man and you get an insurrection.
People would be understandably disappointed with a Mike Brown hire, but he'd be a major improvement over what we have now in Pop/Mitch.
Not even coach we hire is going to last 28 years, or even 5 years. Mike Brown would actually be a good "next step" coach to change some of the culture around here and take steps forward. If he plateau's, you move on and bring in the next guy to take it to the next level.
I know for sure that at least the defense will get better (even when Wemby is not on the floor).
For all the great achievements of PATFO over the years, it is now a pivotal point for them. They need to take a firm decision on Pop's future and not keep the franchise's prospects in limbo. If Pop isn't healthy enough.. they must hire a new coach and a new staff. The clock has been ticking too long for the Spurs now and its time already to get into shape for contention. Mitch Johnson is clearly not the answer.
100% agree. Rolling into next season with Mitch as interim coach with the prospect of Pop maybe returning would be a major signal that they aren't serious about winning.
IDK the way the Kings just took off the second they fired him makes me pretty weary of the idea. Spurs have to be able to do better than that when they have Wemby and Fox in the fold with an up and coming Castle who looks like he's going to be a real player too. This isn't like the Lakers trying to convince Hurley to come in and clean LeBron's mess after he cost them all their young talent for Westrbrook (eg Kuzma, KCP, Caruso, and Monk). I remember when the Spurs were nobodies and they still got Larry Brown excited enough at the prospect of coaching David Robinson to leave Kansas and come here. Surely there has to be excitement at coming to coach Wemby, Fox, and Castle too.
It's overly simplistic to just say "this team got better after Coach X was fired, therefor Coach X is not very good and we should not be interested"
Sometimes certain people just aren't the right fit for an organization at that time. CLE got significantly better after firing Bickerstaff, but Bickerstaff was still a great hire for DET and has led to significant improvement there. JB may or may not be the guy to take DET to a Championship, but it definitely looks like he was the right guy for DET right now. The Spurs need the guy for right now more than they need the guy for Wemby's entire career. Would it be great to have that? Sure, but it's actually pretty unlikely so it would be foolish to make that your top priority.
As for Hurley... I don't think his antics are going to fly in the NBA. Seems like an idea college coach to me. I'm not all that high on him for us.
Maybe - but even if it’s a bit simplistic, it should at least factor in, even if it’s not determinative by itself.
Edited because Brown was an assistant with the Warriors, after their first recent le, but during some of the others. That’s not bad. Kings situation was still odd though. Similar concerns with Budenholzer and the Bucks/Suns.
Last edited by Gandalf; 03-12-2025 at 01:09 PM.
Of course it's a factor. But there is also an interview process, you just don't extend job offers to coaches (or any other job) based solely on their resume.
Almost every coach that's available has been fired from somewhere else... every person who eventually gets married was also most likely dumped by someone else at some point... the cir stances matter and we just don't dismiss potential partners because their last stint didn't end perfectly (otherwise they wouldn't be available). Even if we hire someone who hasn't been fired... it means we are hiring someone who is willing to leave their current job for a better one, something they may even do to you one day. None of these should be red flags, but things to discuss in an interview.
The Spurs are also not a franchise who's doesn't stink, and we shouldn't act like they are. Yes they have Wemby and Fox and Castle... but they also have the second longest playoff drought in the NBA; a handful of losing players on significant contracts; the incoming coach will be replacing the winning coach of all time; the franchise also moves very conservatively and is money conscious; and the franchise player will have a long-term health question mark... this isn't the perfect opportunity that everyone in the world will be dying to take like we might want to imagine it is.
The Spurs have had exactly 1 coach who has made it four full years: Gregg Popovich. It's far more likely that our next coach is another guy who lasts less than 4 years than it is a guy who lasts 10+. We should mentally prepare ourselves for an underwhelming coaching hire, and that still might end up being a nice step forward for us.
sure but gotta also factor in what the kings were before mike brown. as scott said, he at least provides a respectable floor. he's not exactly on my wish list, but he's better than popomitch
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